Trustee Vacancies

Older people say they are more afraid of losing their independence than dying and that is why Hoxton Health provides a range of services so older people can live a healthier, happier, and more involved life.

SM lives alone. She is strongly independent, engaged in her community and intrepid. She has peripheral neuropathy and had a fall that fractured a thoracic vertebra. Her life was suddenly severely limited and she was unable to keep up contact in her community and family as she has to travel to see her daughters.

She was screaming with pain when she first saw the osteopath but gradually with work to the affected area and working on her posture and walking, there was considerable improvement. Now, she says she still has pain, but more ‘ouch’ than screaming.

She recently made the journey to France under her own steam to see her daughter. Something she thought she would never be able to do again.

Hoxton Health works from St Leonard’s Hospital in Hoxton, and we are currently developing clinics in two in residential care homes. We provide a range of low-cost therapies and specialised supported exercise classes for older people in Hackney.

Our goal is to ensure that older people can live better in later life and remain as happy, healthy and independent as possible.

Our plans for the future

We are now entering an exciting new phase of our organisational development. Our plan is to have transformed the organisation in several ways by our 30th Anniversary in October 2017.

To have a clear common mission understood by service users, practitioners, trustees, partners and our community

To have transformed our reach in terms of influence

To be well recognised in our community

To achieve our plan, we recognise that we need to broaden and increase the range of interests, skills and expertise on our Board of Trustees to include;

Experience of PR, publicity and marketing

An interest in promoting good health and well-being of older people

Experience in running a small charity, with a good understanding of relevant issues, including fundraising and delivering services under contract

We have a small, friendly Board of Trustees who work hard to ensure that older people have access to services to help them live healthier, happier and more active lives. When our new trustees are in place, we will be undertaking further training for all Board members.

Trustee role description

To ensure that Hoxton Health complies with governance documentation

To ensure Hoxton Health applies its resources exclusively in accordance with grant conditions or in fulfilling Hoxton Health’s mission

To contribute actively to the Board of Trustees’ role in giving clear strategic direction to Hoxton Health, setting overall policy, defining goals, setting targets and evaluating performance against agreed targets

To safeguard the good name and values of Hoxton Health

To ensure the effective and efficient administration of Hoxton Health

To protect and manage the funds of Hoxton Health, ensuring financial stability and sustainability

To take an appropriate role in managing and supporting any employees of Hoxton Health

To be responsible for the performance of the charity, ensuring that the charity complies with all legal and regulatory requirements.

To ensure that the charity’s governance is of the highest possible standard.

As well as the various statutory duties, any trustee should make full use of any specific skills, knowledge or experience to help the board make good decisions.

Time commitment

The main trustee board meets 6 times per year in London, for up to 2 hours for each meeting. There will be a day of training for all trustees in the coming year.

We hope that new trustees would, in time, feel able to join one of our 2 sub-committees: finance and Publicity. These meetings would be held 6 times per year.

Want to know more?

If you would like to have an informal discussion about these roles or have any specific questions please make contact with our Janet Cobill, Secretary and Manager Janet@hoxtonhealth.org 07876 163635

What happens next?

If you are interested in becoming a Trustee of HH, please download and fill in the MC Skills Audit sheet below, fill it in and email it to janet@hoxtonhealth.org. We will assess the forms and you will be invited to meet the Chair and Secretary and to attend a meeting of the Trustees as a guest, to find out more about our work. It is possible for us to co-opt potential trustees so you would not have to wait until the next AGM.